Love & Dating: 3 ways toxic relationships affect you

Everyone does not get to experience toxic relationships. Those that don’t are actually the lucky ones.

It looks like so many people have been involved at some point with a partner who turns out to be nothing like what they initially thought he/she was.

In other cases, the relationship begins in great fashion… affection in place, communication on point and both partners finding it difficult to believe that they could have been so lucky to find real substance among the pool of poor partners.

Sadly, there are more false dawns than lasting relationships, because, somewhere along the line, one partner becomes an ugly contrast of his or her former self.

And for those who have been down this path, the pain is familiar – searing, deep and so intense that the very core of their existence feels it.

In the end, after months or years of hoping something would change, they eventually come to terms with reality and end the relationship.

By the time the relationship is over, however, its effects cannot be quickly wiped away and so you go on bearing them for months or years, depending on how much of yourself you invested and lost in that relationship.

2. It messes you up

There is a common pattern with this type of relationship. Your partner treats you like dirt for as long as possible, and when you decide to let them go, they come crying back to you, saying they are nothing without you and that they’ll be destroyed if you leave.

So you are convinced and remain in the relationship and everything gets back to being good… but it lasts only a while, and they’ll be back doing those same things that hurt, break and kill you inside.

You decide to leave, and the cycle repeats itself.

You are left in the toxic loop, a constant cycle that leaves you messed up, even after you give up on the relationship.

playAfter you manage to break free, the scars are still very much there. And so you go on a voyage of healing and ridding yourself of that negative energy (Shutterstock)

3. Leaves you needing an emotional detox

You know how someone needs to be detoxified after taking harmful substances? That’s how you’ll be after an unhealthy relationship.

A toxic partner drains you of all positive energy and fills you with negative vibes. For a long time after you get out of the relationship, you will still either be bitter, sad, angry, cynical and jaded, or an unbalanced combination of all.

It really does take time to get these out. And maybe the gentle touch of genuine love and affection will help speed up the process.